Pagina's

The situation is not unlike that in former communist East Germany. It was called the German Democratic Republic and you could vote for different parties - Christian Democrats, Liberal Democrats, the Democratic Farmers' Party and so on. But they were all signed up to the programme of the so-called Socialist Unity Party which took its orders from Moscow - just as our leaders do from Brussels.

This was the system under which Angela Merkel had a privileged upbringing. She became a propaganda officer in the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth), the communist equivalent of the Hitler Youth. They had a song with rather a jolly tune "Die Partei hat immer recht" (the party is always right). The majority of our MPs should start learning it. They could sing it as they march into the lobby.

Reader Edward in the comments on the state of democracy in the UK, the Netherlands and elsewhere in the EUnion.